Background: Most focus in genetic instability in colon carcinogenic transformation was on DNA Mismatch Repair (MMR) genes alterations as they relate to the microsatellite instability phenotype. However, POLE gene mutations can also be instrumental in triggering genetic instability, at even higher magnitude of genome mutation rate. Aim: To assess POLE gene mutations in African Americans with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Data from Whole exome sequencing of 12 CRC African American tumors was searched to scan POLE gene mutations. All detected mutations were checked in tumors and matched normal. The detected mutations were validated in a second set of samples that were sequenced using POLE gene targeted sequencing. Detected and validated mutations were checked in available databases such as COSMIC and dbSNP to determine novel mutations in our population that is at high risk of aggressive CRC. Results: Six out of 12 patients (50%) displayed mutations in POLE gene. There were 41 detected mutations, 11 are novel mutations and 15 are amino-acid changing. Nine of these were non-synonymous and predicted to have deleterious effects. All these mutations were validated using targeted sequencing. In comparison to DNA MMR, POLE gene has four folds more mutations than MSH2gne (10 mutations and MSH6 (11 mutations and two fold more than MSH3 gene (20 mutations) in the same set of 12 cancer/matched normals. The POLE mutations heterozygous/homozygous status was overall similar in normal and matched normal. However, most of the mutations were homozygous. Conclusion: POLE gene mutations are increasingly recognized as another important element in genetic instability. Our data shows that mutations affecting this gene are likely more significant than those affecting DNA MMR genes. Moreover, POLE mutations might be more consequential, especially those affecting its exonuclease domain of polymerase epsilon, proofreading catalytic subunit. Microsatellite-stable, hypermutated CRCs might need to be explored for POLE gene mutations to track the origin of high mutation rates. Citation Format: Hassan Brim, Babak Shokrani, Hamed Azimi, Sudhir Varma, Edward Lee, Hassan Ashktorab. POLE gene mutations in African Americans colorectal cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2413.


A stage manipulator is described which scans the slide automatically. Means are provided for presetting the horizontal and vertical limits of motion, horizontal rate, and vertical step size, The following components of the manipulator are described: electronic control system, horizontal programmer, and vertical programmer. (D.L.C.)


A 60.year—old male patient applied to our clinic with a complaint of having urinary frequency and dysuria,cover a period of about 8 months.The patient had been smoking two packs of cigarettes a day for 30 years,the serum level of total prostate—specific antigen(tPSA) was 1.36 n∥ml and the free prostate-specific antigen(伊SA)was 0.23 ng/m1.An ultrasonography(us)examination showed the prostate was 5.2x4.6 x4.7 cm in size and residuaI urine was 110 m1.On digital rec— tal examination(DRE),the prostate was elastic and painless and rec. toprostatic sulci were found to be prominent with no hardness.A


To the Editor: —A letter written by me to a medical journal, dated May 4 last, which discussed the question of human alimentation and proper food preparation in public places, brings up a question of vital concern and therefore appropriate for careful consideration in the ultimate hope that there may be brought forth a generation of cooks fitly prepared by scientific training for their important work. The suggestion was made that the training schools for nurses, and the revolution thus wrought in that line of work, furnished a fair parallel to what was possible in the dietary and culinary service rendered to the public in hotels, clubs, restaurants and the like, and that adequately equipped medical colleges should undertake to provide this educational and dietetic service. The contention in the letter named was that the physical aspect of people, as seen in city streets, supports the view that there is


Every breast augmentation requires the finalization of several parameters: implant volume, plane of placement, implant shape and surface, and incision location. It has become apparent that a strong difference of opinion exists about who should decide these parameters. A considerable number of my patients presenting for breast augmentation have complained that other plastic surgeons with whom they have previously consulted did not permit them, the patients, to have any significant input into the decision-making process and, in some cases, simply told the patients what was going to be done to them. Another indication that many surgeons have this approach to augmentation has been demonstrated in breast panels at plastic surgery meetings. In this forum, the panel members are typically shown preoperative photographs and then are asked how they would perform each patient's augmentation. I heard the following three responses recently, all pertaining to the same patient: "I would put a 300-cc round implant in front of the muscle through the areola," "I would recommend a subpectoral 350-cc textured teardrop implant through the axilla for her," and "I would use about a 400-cc round prepectoral for her." Not one of these panelists referred to the possibility that the patient might have some preferences of her own. That this approach does indeed reflect the actual practice of many plastic surgeons has been demonstrated to me by a considerable number of women who are seeking revision of their augmentation, complaining that their surgeons had made all the decisions for them, with little patient input, and that the result was quite different from what they had wanted and expected. Even worse, some patients have reported that the surgeon merely told them that they would make all the decisions in the operating room on the basis of what the surgeon thought looked good. An extreme variant of this approach, even more deplorable, is that some surgeons make key intraoperative decisions by means of consensus among the operating room personnel. The most common postoperative complaint I have seen among patients whose surgeons made all the decisions for them has been that of incorrect size. These patients were rarely given an opportunity to try different volume fillers in various size bras under their own clothing to permit them to actually see themselves at different cup sizes when they consulted. Of course, measurements are an essential part of preoperative planning, but dimensions are not always sufficient to permit the patient to finalize the implant volume. Most women usually have a clear image of the body proportion they wish to achieve, yet are unable to visualize centimeters of diameter or milliliters of volume. In many cases, the woman was told that the surgeon decides the size, or that the surgeon prefers small breasts, dislikes large implants, or will not use any implant larger than such-and-such size. The second most common complaint has been that the patient was not permitted free choice of prepectoral or subpectoral placement but was restricted to the plane the surgeon prefers. The rationale may have involved the surgeon's preference regarding the degree of definition at the upper pole or may have been based on the surgeon's opinions about practical or theoretical concerns; in any event, the patient was not involved in the decisionmaking process and came to resent not being


The number of severe weather events at the Arctic region increased significantly. Its formation related generally to the mesoscale processes including downslope windstorms over Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard, Tiksi bay accompanied by strong winds. Therefore, its investigation required detailed hydrometeorological and climatic information with a horizontal resolution of at least several kilometers. This work aims to investigate extreme wind speeds statistics associated with downslope windstorms and evaluate it according to the COSMO-CLM Russian Arctic hindcast, ASR reanalysis, stations and satellite data.

COSMO-CLM Russian Arctic hindcast created in 2020 covers the 1980–2016 period with grid size ~12 km and 1-hour output step, containing approximately a hundred hydrometeorological characteristics, as well at surface, as on the 50 model levels. The primary assessments of the surface wind speed and temperature fields showed good agreement with ERA-Interim reanalysis in large-scale patterns and many added values in the regional mesoscale features reproduction according to the coastlines, mountains, large lakes, and other surface properties.

Mean values, absolute and daily maxima of wind speed, high wind speed frequencies were estimated for the COSMO-CLM Russian Arctic hindcast and the well-known Arctic System Reanalysis (ASRv2) for a 2000-2016 period. COSMO-CLM showed higher mean and daily maximal wind speed areas concerned to coastal regions of Svalbard and Scandinavia, over the northern areas of Taymyr peninsula. At the same time, the absolute wind speed maxima are significantly higher according to ASRv2, specially over the Barents Sea, near the Novaya Zemlya coast (differences are up to 15-20 m/s). The same pattern observed by a number of days with wind speed above the 30 m/s threshold. Compared with station data, the ASRv2 reproduced mean wind speeds better at most coastal and inland station, MAE are within 3 m/s. For absolute wind speed maxima differences between two datasets get lower, the COSMO-CLM hindcast is quite better for inland stations.

Model capability to reproduce strong downslope windstorms evaluated according to the observations timeseries over Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard and Tiksi stations during bora conditions. Generally, the ASRv2 reproduced the wind direction closer to observations and the wind speed worser than COSMO-CLM. The extreme wind speed frequencies during bora cases have less errors according to COSMO-CLM hindcast (up to ~5%) compared to the ASRv2 data (up to 10%). At the same time, moderate wind speed frequencies are reproduced by ASRv2 better.

Five specific Novaya Zemlya bora cases were evaluated according to SAR satellite wind speed data. Both ASRv2 and COSMO-CLM overestimated mean wind speed (MAE 0.5-6 m/s), maximal wind speed bias has different signs, however, the COSMO-CLM is better in most cases. Extreme percentiles biases (99 and 99.9%), correlation, structure and amplitude (according to the SAL method) are closer to observations by the COSMO-CLM hindcast.


Common volume visualization methods mostly guarantee a high quality rendering of volume data with integrated object specific pervoxel based rendering. Especially, in medical or engineering data not only the representation of surfaces of visible volume objects are of particular interest, but also possible volume objects which are actually hidden by other objects in the view direction could contain important information. Thus, volume object occlusion becomes very important in volume visualization applications. This report presents an efficient implementation using (Importance-Driven Volume Rendering IDVR) to render all volume objects along the view direction in relation to the associated object importance values. Due to the higher importance of specific volume objects particular parts of objects with less importance will be cut or suppressed in their transparency if they are in front of more important object. Thus, the user is able to clearly view those important but hidden objects, regardless which view direction has been chosen. IDVR actually is an addition to the common rendering pipeline and thus can be efficiently combined with other known volume visualization methods, in particular with realistic and nonphotorealistic shading methods. Considering highly complex volume data sets containing various different volume objects, the IDVR enhancement of our application will introduce an easy solution to take care of entirely visualize individually defined volume objects despite of any occlusion and from which view direction they are looked at.


Lieutenant-Colonel H. R. Nutt, m.d., f.r.c.s., i.m.s., officiating Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, United provinces, is confirmed in that appointment, with effect fr?m the 16th April, 1930. The services of Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. S. Phillips, are placed permanently at the disposal of the Government of Bihar and Orissa, with effect from the jlth April, 1930, for appointment as Director of Public Health, Bihar and Orissa. Lieutenant-Colonel P. L. O'Neill, C.I.E., i.m.s., is appointed Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, Burma, With effect from the afternoon of the 16th June, 1930. The services of Major M. A. Singh, i.m.s., are placed Permanently at the disposal of the Government of "?ngal, with effect from the 3rd April, 1930, for employttient in the Jails Department. , The services of Major S. R. Prall, M.B., I.M.S., and Major J. S. Galvin, m.b? i.m.s., are placed temporarily a~ the disposal of the Government of Bombay, with effect from the dates thev assume charge of their civil duties. The services of Major P. A. Dargan, i.m.s., are placed temporarily at, the disposal of the Government of the unjab, with effect from the date on which he assumes charge of his duties. fhe services of Major I. S. Nahva, i.m.s., are placed temporarily at the disposal of the Government of Urma for employment in the Jails Department, with etiect from the date on which he assumes charge of his 'ties. Home Department Notification regarding the transfer of Major N. M. P. Dotivala, i.m.s., to Burma


1 Introduction Continued relevance of mawarith in the modern day Timing of the Will Fundamental questions Types of Wills and absence of Wills Why does one need a Will? Tax benefits of estate planning What is generally required in a Will? Structure of a Shari'a-guided Will 2 The history of Islamic inheritance laws, and their importance in Islam Rights of inheritance The first right: enshrouding and burial The second right: payment of debts The third right: testamentary freedom over one-third The fourth right: distribution of the remaining two-thirds The problem of ownership - real life issues and solutions 3 The freely disposable third 4 The remaining two - thirds: inheritors and their share in the estate The basics The ashabul fara'id/zawil furood (obligatory primary heirs) Details of the asabat (residuary beneficiaries) Those precluded from inheritance Hajb: one inheritance precluding another, or decreasing his/her share 3 Methodology for calculating inheritance Awl: increasing the inheritance division Radd: re-distribution of outstanding inheritance share 5 Conflicts of laws The 'internationalisation' of clients Conflicts of laws The concept of domicile Distinction between moveable and immoveable assets What happens when the Will conflicts with Shari'a law? EU attempts to harmonise succession laws The status of executors Execution of Wills Mutual Wills 6 Taxation issues in conventional and Islamic inheritance The incidence of estate/inheritance tax Estate tax treaties Unilateral credit Conflicts between estate planning and Shari'a law Variations and waivers 7 Shari'a-guided Will drafting The disposable third Statement of faith in preamble Religious/family guidance in preamble Burial and legal issues How do you draft a Shari'a-guided Will? Video Wills 8 Lifetime giving (hiba) Freedom to make gifts Deathbed gifts Consent of heirs Rights of 'disappointed' heirs Lifetime waivers 9 Shari'a-guided family trusts The concept of a trust The 'trust industry' Anti-forced heirship jurisdictions Unsuccessful attempts to circumvent Shari'a law via trusts Shari'a-compliant family trust drafting Precedent family trust deed 10 Charitable giving by waqf Appendix One - The succession rights of the ashabul fara'id/zawil furood (obligatory primary heirs) The father's share The grandfather's share The uterine sibling's share The husband's share The wife's share The daughter's share The granddaughter's share The sister's share The consanguine sister's share The mother's share The grandmother's share Appendix Two - Inheritance calculations Asaba ma'al gayr Asaba calculations with heirs from Group A and Group B Awl and hajb calculations Complex inheritance calculations Dividing inheritance of the deceased amongst creditors Radd calculations Appendix Three - Precedent mutual Wills agreement Appendix Four - Precedent deed of variation Appendix Five - Islamic Wills template Appendix Six - Precedent Shari'a-compliant family trust deed Appendix Seven - Precedent charity waqf deed Glossary of terms


This paper investigates the effects of linear and angular misalignments on static contact parameters in a gear pair, taken at various points during the gear meshing cycle. The parameters of interest include the degree to which the load is shared among the teeth in contact (load sharing ratio (LSR)), the reaction forces at the gear centres and the static transmission error (STE), which can be thought of as the energy stored in the system. The LSR and STE are frequently used in vibratory models of gearboxes to model the coupling between gears and have considerable effects on the system response.

In the current work, these parameters are calculated through the analysis of a 3D spur gear model in the finite element package ABAQUS (TM), where a gear pair is subjected to a known torque at various rotational positions to include regions of single and double tooth contact.

It is shown that the introduction of misalignment usually has an effect on the system; however, substantial axial and yaw misalignment are required before non-negligible forces develop. It is also shown that pitch misalignment is the most influential with regard to the reaction moments and transmission error, whereas radial misalignment is more influential in the decomposition of the normal contact force into vertical and horizontal forces.


Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972 was the result of several years of negotiating between China and the United States. Before 1989, Sino-American reconciliation was the most important event of the cold war. The conventional explanations of Sino-American reconciliation point to America's loss in Vietnam, the crises in Taiwan and of course; the Sino-Soviet split. This dissertation argues that in addition to these factors, the CCP's legitimacy crisis had large part to play in the course of Sino-American rapprochement. By examining the process chronologically, the conclusion is drawn that the collapse of the CCP's legitimacy (as a result of the Cultural Revolution) led Mao to open negotiations with the West.


School-based study should be centred on problems and the teachers should play the role of the subject on the basis of cooperation, i.e. School-based study should attach enough importance to problem consciousness, cooperation consciousness and subject consciousness, in order to promote the teacher' s professional development.


The priorities for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction in preparation for its membership in the European Union are to ensure integration, efficient use of resources, socio-economic growth, and sustainable development. Finding ways to effectively develop the economic and other sectors, adapt to European norms and create a sustainable framework for integration into the European space was the purpose of this study. The methodology is based on the empirical research method. The reform priority coefficient was calculated using a formula for determining the priority areas for improving the economic, demographic, and political sectors of Ukraine. The study identified priority areas for Ukraine's post-war development, including mechanisms such as ensuring sustainable economic growth, modernising infrastructure, developing trade relations with EU countries, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, improving the quality of education and healthcare, which can be used by scientists and the state to ensure the country's effective development and obtaining the status of a full EU member. The importance of ensuring social protection of the population, including raising living standards and ensuring access to basic social services, was identified. The study found that effective economic diplomacy and the expansion of international relations with EU member states are crucial factors for Ukraine's successful preparation for EU membership. The focus is on ensuring strategic orientation, efficient use of resources and achieving the country's socio-economic development in line with European standards and values. In practice, these results can become the basis for developing strategic decisions and programmes in line with EU criteria

https://ecdev.com.ua/web/uploads/pdf/Economics of Development_2023_Vol. 22_No. 3_42-51.pdf


While in the Iliad the heroes' stylised banquets are a representation of their social or psychological setting, the Odyssey, closer to folklore than to epic code, enacts different kinds of meals, sometimes preluding to gruesome events – such are the killing of Helios' cattle, the Cyclops' meal, and the suitors' feasting.


The telephone is an easy way for health professionals to provide educational and psychosocial support to informal caregivers. This Cochrane systematic review evaluated 21 randomised clinical trials involving 1,690 caregivers comparing the efficacy of telephone interventions against usual care, regarding educational and psychosocial support. It was concluded that these interventions may have a slight benefit for some outcomes, such as reducing anxiety and improving preparation for care. However, for most of the evaluated outcomes, the additional effect of using telephone interventions was little or none. Most studies had a high risk of bias and few participants.


This document defines SRTP crypto suites based on the ARIA block
cipher algorithm for use with the Session Description Protocol (SDP)
security descriptions.


(PCA) in the guinea-pig; since that time, these results have been confirmed in 2 other patients afflicted with the same dermatological syndrome (I). One of these patients was regularly in contact with horsetails in the proximity of his house in April 1985. In the hour after exposure, he developed dermatitis of his right hand and of the face which resembles "seborrhoeic dermatitis" after passive inhalation of tobacco smoke. A fresh exposure to this plant induced a more rapid reaction which necessited local application of epinephrine (I %0) and oral antihistamines. His history of atopic reactions with nicotine as a hapten in tobacco smoke correlated with the possible presence of nicotine in horsetails. In 1960, Phillipson & Melville (2) detected nicotine in 3 British species of Equisetum: arvense L., telmateia Ehrh. and sylvaticum L. The amount of nicotine obtained from 5 kg of dried plant material was estimated by ultra-violet spectrophotometry as not more than 2 mg. Thus, small quantities of nicotine by contact are able to induce an anaphylactic reaction of the skin of the same order as that described by Karrenberg in 1928 (3). The application of a drop of nicotine (1/1,000,000) to a woman working in the tobacco industry and afflicted with a facial dermatitis induced a generalized reaction with shock. More recently, Mensch & Holden (4) described the case of a woman who reacted after chewing a single gum of nicotine (2 mg) for 60 s: nausea, flushing, pruritis, burning and erythema over the entire body, swollen lips, and a fall in blood pressure were the major symptoms. Specific hyposensitization was not sufficient to block such a reaction by contact with horsetails for this patient with a monthly subcutaneous injection of allergenic tobacco leaf which contained 60 JIg nicotine (5). This observation demonstrates the limitations of such therapy, and shows that specific hyposensitization is probably only useful for toleration of the amount of nicotine derived from passive smoking in public places. Thus, it appears that nicotine is widespread in botanic areas, and that seborrhoeic dermatitis may occur in susceptible patients from contact with horsetails (Equisetum arvense L.), by passive inhalation of tobacco smoke in public places and probably from other sources (e.g., ingestion of foods) at very low levels.


Abstract Fourteen amphibians (7 species) and 37 reptiles (25 species) collected from 3 sites in the Pastaza Province of the Republic of Ecuador were examined for helminths. A total of 6 (42.7%) individual amphibians and 18 (48.6%) individual reptiles were infected. Five (71.4%) of the amphibian species (4 frogs, 1 toad) and 10 (40.0%) of the reptile species (4 lizards, 6 snakes) were found to harbor 1 species of helminth; 1 amphibian species (14.3%) and 5 reptile species (13.2%) harbored 2 species of helminths each. One species of cestode and 16 species of nematodes, together representing 11 families, were found in the herpetofauna surveyed. Twenty-five new host and 15 new geographic records are documented. When compared to other South American countries, the majority of parasites reported herein for Ecuador have been reported previously in herpetofauna from Brazil.


Deep drawing is one of the most importing processes for forming a sheet metal parts. It is widely used for mass production of good strength and light weight part in automobile and aerospace industries. Optimization of process parameters in sheet metal forming is the important task to reduced manufacturing cost per year. In this review paper importance is given to gather the recent research work and the effect of process parameter on the sheet metal component .There are many process parameters like that blank holding force, die radius, friction, punch speed, and other factors that affect on product quality produced by deep drawing process. In square shape of component major failures are occurs due to stress concentration at the square shape sharp edges of die and punch. Therefore is important to optimize the process parameters to avoid stress concentration. For the ooptimization several tools have been used by researcher like ANOVA, FEA, Taguchi etc. In this review paper major focus is to review for square shape deep drawing component.


The article describes the characteristics and specifics of victims of crimes under art. 318 and 319 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation, which became the basis for a special criminal law protection of their health, personal integrity, honor and dignity. The author revealing the concept of «representative government» compares it with the concept of «official» and concludes that a representative government is a official of the state law enforcement or supervisory authority, as well as an official of a public body, endowed with the procedure established by law administrative powers in respect of persons who are not in the service of his addiction.


The ultraviolet communication system has special necessity and superiority because of the solar-blind characteristics of ultraviolet. The ultraviolet detection is the main difference between the ultraviolet communication system and to her communication systems. Several types solar-blind UV detectors which are now using in solar-blind UV communication are introduced, and their spectrum response and quantum efficiency are analyzed. Their working conditions are gained. How to choose the appropriate equipments is concluded and the future trend is predicted.


Diarrheal diseases remain a leading cause of death in children under age five worldwide. In addition, repeated early life exposures to diarrheal pathogens can result in co‐morbidities such as impaired growth and cognitive deficits. Given that neural development, differentiation of the gut, and colonization of the microbiota are interconnected and develop concurrently, it is critical to understand the mechanisms that connect them and how early life dysbiosis can lead to pathology of the microbiota‐gut‐brain (MGB) axis.


This paper presents artefacts of Egyptian and Coptic art kept in the Museum Mimara in Zagreb, Croatia. These artefacts were purchased at the international art market and later donated to the museum by Ante Topic Mimara.


Plastics are the most commonly used polymers for conventional applications. Plastic wastes accumulating the environment are presenting an ever-increasing ecological threat. Low density polyethylene is major cause of long-term environmental pollution. An eco-friendly approach to resolve this ever-growing persistent menace is bioremediation. The diverse metabolic capability of microbes can be effectively exploited for breakdown of plastic wastes. Another approach is to synthesise biodegradable or organic plastics which is soluble in the natural environment. There are several advantages associated with these biodegradable plastics or plastic degrading microbes. They can be composted with organic wastes and returned to enrich the soil. Their use will not only reduce stress and loss of habitat of wild animals caused by dumping of conventional plastics but will also lessen the labor expenses for the removal of plastic wastes in the environment because they degrade naturally. This review describes bioremediation/biodegradation process, production, types of and advantages of bioplastics.


Personality changes are included in the DSM‐III‐R and ICD‐10 criteria for diagnosis of dementia. However, until quite recently, dementia research has emphasized cognitive decline, with little interest being shown in personality change. Recent studies looking at personality changes in dementia have usually used small clinical samples. In the study reported here, such changes have been assessed in a community sample of persons over 70 years. Information was obtained from a close relative or friend. A single dimension of personality change was found. There was a moderate but significant correlation between personality change and cognitive change. Reports of personality change were also correlated to neurotic symptoms in the informant. Personality change was unrelated to the gender of the informant, the relationship of the informant to their relative or whether they lived with their relative. Also, there was no association between personality change and the elderly subject's age, gender or level of education. Through logistic regression, the neurotic symptom score of the informant was found to be the best predictor of reported personality change. This suggests that caution may be needed in interpreting information about personality change obtained from informants.


Despite the increased incidence of trolling within online gaming environments, very little psychological research has been conducted beyond the fact that it exists. The main aims of the study were to examine the: i frequency of trolling, ii type and reasons for trolling, and iii the effects trolling may have on self-esteem. Using an online survey, a self-selected sample of 125 gamers participated in the study. Results showed that trolls tended to play longer gaming sessions. Frequent trolls were significantly younger and male. Types of trolling included griefing, sexism/racism, and faking/intentional fallacy. Reasons for trolling included amusement, boredom, and revenge. Witnessing trolling was positively associated with self-esteem, whereas experiencing trolling was negatively associated. Experience of trolling was positively correlated with frequency of trolling. Although the study used a self-selecting sample, the results appear to provide a tentative benchmark into video game trolling and its potential effects on self-esteem.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to point out the commonalities of research in digital libraries and digital preservation with regard to the issues of users and context of information.Design/methodology/approach – The paper's approach is a review of selected literature and reports of research projects focusing particularly on digital preservation research.Findings – It is noted that just like the digital library community the digital preservation research community is also confronted with the challenges of capturing, storing and making use of the information related to users and context.Practical implications – The paper points out some current research in digital preservation that aims to handle the users and context information for building future digital preservation systems. It highlights some major challenges in these areas.Originality/value – The paper reports on the state of the art research in digital preservation.


The quality of teacher is an important basis for improving the teaching level of higher vocational education. To improve the quality of teachers' team, not only the training but also the efforts of their own are needed.It is necessary to grasp the object and direction and set up confidence.The teaching method should be studied and thus the teaching ability and level can be improved.


Opinion-based questionnaires on Likert scales are commonly used in assessing health care utilization, facilitating factors and barriers. There is a need to set up a cut-off point in them to arrive at a conclusion. It is also important to set up a cut-off point on overall items in Likert scale-based questionnaires used for assessing Knowledge, Attitude and Practice. In this article, we show how to formulate a tool for decision-making in survey questionnaires and readjust their cut-off points to incorporate the population variation for items containing ordinal variables. This method can be used for setting up a cut-off point to arrive at a diagnosis in a newly developed instrument with ordinal variables which does not have any gold-standard instrument for comparison.


In the light of transformations, which happen in the contemporary society in general and in the higher education sphere in particular, the practical and theoretical significance of the problem of University professor image making is growing. The purpose of this paper is to find out what today's students think about their professors, which parts of their images students find the most important and prioritized. To this end, an experimental research of student's opinions about university professor's image was carried out. This paper provides the analysis of its results. The method of research consisted of oral and written interviews, as well as interviews in social networks. The analysis resulted in considering key features of the image of a contemporary university professor and in giving recommendations on the technology of positive image making. The paper shows that the dominant features of the image are professors' professionalism and expertise in a specific subject area, their pedagogical competence as an ability to implement productive educational process and an emotional intelligence. The paper contains many practical examples which show the legitimacy of students' priorities in part of image features of their professors .


The dark adsorption of Cr(Ⅵ) ion on the surface of TiO 2 photocatalyst is mainly dependent on Cr(Ⅵ) concentration and the system acidity. The presence of 4CP has no interference on Cr(Ⅵ) adsorption. Under UV irradiation, reaction in Cr(Ⅵ) 4CP TiO 2 system is much complicated and two different reactions contribute to the overall Cr(Ⅵ) reduction: photo induced homogeneous reaction between Cr(Ⅵ) and 4CP, and photocatalytic reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) ion by TiO 2, an efficient semiconductor photocatalyst, which is promoted by another photocatalytic half reaction: 4CP oxidation and degradation. Cr(Ⅵ) is indirectly reduced by obtaining electrons from Ti 3+ . Obvious photocatalytic reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) ion on TiO 2 under the sunlight irradiation is observed in both Cr(Ⅵ) TiO 2 and Cr(Ⅵ) 4CP TiO 2 systems. When the homogeneous reactions is excluded, the promotion effect of 4CP on photocatalytic reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) ion is discriminated and confirmed. The results obtained under the sunlight irradiation indicate that the direct use of solar energy is efficient for the photocatalytic decontamination.


The premise of the paper is that Tea Party candidates for the presidency have an institutional advantage over establishment candidates in the Republican primaries and caucuses. The reason for this is that the Tea Party constitutes the base of the Republican Party. The majority of Republicans support the Tea Party and they constitute 64% of primary voters. The significance of the 2016 presidential elections is that the Tea Party emerged as the leading force in the national Republican Party. In the lead-up to the first presidential caucus in Iowa, three of the top five Republican candidates, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz are Tea Party-backed candidates. These three candidates alone are ranked number one by more than 50% of Republican voters in the polls. The combined number one ranking of all establishment candidates Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Chris Christy average only 30% of Republican voters in the polls. The paper explains the Tea Party's 10 principles and "primary" strategy to defeat Republicans in Name Only (RINOs) in primaries. It also examines the campaign organizations of the Tea Party Candidates which is central to mobilizing the Tea Party vote in primaries and caucuses.


Tonal information is important for Chinese Mandarin speech recognition and understanding. Tone information is carried on the shape of fundamental frequencies. When constructing a tone recognition system based on support vector machine, the fundamental frequencies should be normalized by curve fitting method. The fitting coefficients are input data of support vector machine, but it cannot precisely represent the shape of fundamental frequencies. An improved tone model is proposed, which added some other information of fundamental frequencies, such as the maximum and minimum value, the position of maximum and minimum values, the fundamental frequency values of first and last point. The experimental result shows that the proposed model is more accurate with the shape of fundamental frequencies and the accuracy rate of tone recognition is increased by using the improved tone model.


The characteristics of seven inorganic sorbents for the capture of gaseous cadmium chlorides were investigated using a high-temperature fixed bed sorption reactor. The investigated sorbents were alumina, bauxite, andalusite, chamotte, kaolin, pyrophyllite and silica stone. Kaolin, chamotte and silica stone appeared to be the relatively promising sorbents for cadmium capture. Sorbed cadmium by those minerals was not easily leached by TCLP extraction. From the analyses of post-sorption sorbent samples, three kinds of capturing mechanisms for cadmium capture by high temperature inorganic sorbents were suggested: 1) chemical reaction to form water-insoluble cadmium-mineral complexes such as CdO · SiO2 and CdO ·Al2O3 · 2SiO2, 2)physical adsorption of gaseous chloride to form water-soluble cadmium chloride(CdCl2), and 3) formation of water-insoluble cadmium oxide(CdO) on sorbent surface.


It is important to diagnose vision loss, which negatively affects the quality of life of people, at an earlier stage. With the advancement of human age, it causes visual disturbances and sometimes complete vision loss. Abnormalities in the anatomical structure of the eye can also be detected with visuals of the eye structure in the early stages of eye diseases. Cataracts are the most important cause of visual impairment affecting millions of people around the world. It aims to help experts by reducing the use of health services with automatic diagnosis systems. In this article, the automatic diagnosis system for catarrhal disease using color fundus images is discussed. Classification method using convolutional neural network (CNN) and deep residual network (DRN) was used for automatic identification of cataract disease. The dataset is a structured database with color fundus photographs of 5000 patients' right and left eyes and keywords for doctors to diagnose each patient's right and left eyes. This dataset represents real-life patient groups. Shanggong Medical Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese company. Data from different hospitals and medical centers were collected by the company. In the data set, patients were classified into 8 different labels. Thanks to the color fundus images, there are features of cataract symptoms of different stages. It is seen that the proposed automatic diagnosis system is more successful than the current classification systems. The accuracy rate of the DRN method is higher than the CNN method. While the accuracy rate in the CNN model is around 89%, the accuracy rate in the DNN model is 95%.


Engineers are always confronted with the challenge of deriving factual and reliable information from accident/incident data and updating selected risk models for use in design in conjunction with results obtained from first-principle approaches. Remarkable achievements in computer science provide a promising forward, through the use of data mining techniques. The work presented in this paper aims to employ Bayesian Networks (BN) in developing risk models and its pertinent "mining" algorithms so that data is explored exhaustively. As a result, use of subjective judgment is reduced (or even eliminated) and the potential of objective resource/means could be fully released. Ultimately, the output is expected to provide a concrete foundation to assist decision-making.


In Hong Kong, the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws is the normal prerequisite for practice. Following a comprehensive review in 2001, the programme was redesigned to emphasize problem-oriented learning and skills-based training. This discussion explains the principal features of the current curriculum and how it has worked out in practice. It calls for a systematic collection and study of feedback on the current programme, and announces a plan for that purpose.


EnglishIn a given population, the magnitude and evolution of endogamy and exogamy are good indicators of the distribution, structure and genetic heterogeneity. They are counted among the factors ensuring social immobility and, consequently, the isolation of different genetic combinations. The main objective, therefore, of our study is to determine the rate of geographical endogamy in Tiflet's region (northwestern Morocco). To elucidate the social situation of this practice, a prospective study was conducted on 1000 pairs randomly sampled between June and November of 2012. Indeed, based on the survey data, the choice of spouse is treated by geographical origin (place of birth) and locality of residence before and after marriage both partners in the generation of the studied couples and their parents' generation. The results revealed high levels of spatial and social immobility endogamy. Compared with other results from different Moroccan regions, our results show that the population of Tiflet is a closed population. francaisDans une population donnee, l'ampleur et l'evolution de l'endogamie et de l'exogamie sont de bons indicateurs de la repartition, la structure et l'heterogeneite du patrimoine genetique. Elles sont comptees parmi les facteurs assurant l'immobilite sociale et, par consequent, l'isolement genetique de differents regroupements. L'objectif principal, donc, de notre etude est de determiner le taux d'endogamie geographique dans la region de Tiflet (Nord-Ouest du Maroc). Pour bien elucider la situation sociale de cette pratique, une enquete prospective a ete realisee sur 1000 couples echantillonnes au hasard entre juin et novembre de l'annee 2012. En effet, a partir des donnees de l'enquete, le choix du conjoint est traite selon l'origine geographique (lieu de naissance) et le lieu de residence avant et apres le mariage des deux conjoints chez la generation des couples etudies et la generation de leurs parents. Les resultats obtenus ont revele des niveaux eleves d'endogamie spatiale et d'immobilite sociale. Compares avec d'autres resultats obtenus dans differentes regions marocaines, nos resultats temoignent que la population de Tiflet est une population fermee.


Objective: Baroreflex activation therapy (BAT) has been shown to lower blood pressure in patients with resistant hypertension. It is not known, however, whether this translates into a reduction of relevant clinical endpoints. Therefore, we investigated hospitalization rates before and after initiation of BAT. Design and method: After patients' written informed consent, records on hospitalization (dates of admission and discharge, main diagnosis) were obtained from medical insurance companies of 24 patients treated with the 2nd generation BAT system. Hospitalization data were annualized to account for variable periods of follow-up. Initial eligibility criteria for BAT were systolic office cuff blood pressure above 140 mmHg despite treatment with at least 3 antihypertensive drugs including at least one diuretic, and exclusion of secondary hypertension. Office cuff blood pressure was measured in sitting position with an automated system, which calculated the mean of 5 recordings at 2 min intervals. Data were tested for statistical significance by Wilcoxon test and are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Results: Records on hospitalization were available for a period of 1 year before BAT activation in 2 patients and 2 years before BAT activation in 22 patients. Follow-up after BAT activation was 1259 ± 498 days. The total number of hospitalizations was 3.3 ± 3.5 per year before BAT and 2.2 ± 2.7 per year after BAT (p = 0.03). Hospitalizations related to hypertension were significantly decreased from 1.5 ± 1.7 per year before BAT to 0.5 ± 0.9 per year after BAT (p < 0.01); scheduled hospitalization for BAT implantation was not counted. The cumulative duration of hypertension-related hospital stays was significantly reduced from 8.3 ± 9.1 days per year before BAT to 1.8 ± 4.8 days per year after BAT (p < 0.01). Office cuff blood pressure was 177 ± 26 over 99 ± 17 mmHg before BAT and 154 ± 32 over 90 ± 17 mmHg at latest follow-up (p < 0.01 for systolic and diastolic blood pressure). Conclusions: Besides the known reduction in blood pressure, BAT lowered the rate of hospitalizations related to hypertension in patients with severe resistant hypertension, suggesting that the positive effect of BAT on blood pressure may translate into a reduction of relevant clinical endpoints.


In this paper, experimental research has been conducted intended for using Phase Change Materials (PCM) by incorporating it with the building layers walls. The effect of involving PCM volume ratio and orientation on the thermal efficiency and thermal comfort was experimentally studied. Two identical rooms models have been constructed. The first model was used as a standard room as a reference one without using PCM and the second model has the PCM layers and used for all experimental testing works. Both rooms are installed at National Research Center, NRC, Giza, 30.08° N latitude, Egypt. The PCM used in this experimental work was paraffin wax having a melting point of 29 °C. Many cases have been studied based on the south wall, east wall and west wall respectively. It is found that using PCM caused a considerable reduction in the indoor air temperature and consequently reduction in the cooling load that minimizes the building energy consumed. It is concluded that the Percentage of the cooling load reduction of the zone by using PCM and according to cases and for peak hour in day was 19.2 % with PCM for East, West and South walls together, followed by 16.8 % for South wall only, followed by 12.7 % with West wall only and followed by 10.5 % for East wall only. It is found that the best case in cooling load reduction of the room for peak hours of PCM for South, West and East walls together by 19.2 %. The experimental results of the present study were validated with the corresponding experimental study of Mushtaq 2018 with a considerable agreement between the daily cooling load reduction per space volume and the cooling load reduction ratio. It is known that the cooling load reduction ratio is referred to the energy-saving which proved that using PCM in the building will contribute to energy saving in residential building


In the Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant asserts the impossibility of the principles of practical reason, as "the objective reality of the moral law cannot be proved by any deduction" (KpV, АА 05: 47). This is the case if deduction is understood as the procedure Kant follows in the "Transcendental Analytic" of the first Critique. Yet, Kant himself points out that "deduction […] is the justification (Rechtfertigung) of its objective and universal validity" (KpV, AA 5:46). This justification of the principles of practical reason can be found in Kant's works and has a certain structure. Firstly, in the Critique of Pure Reason, he justifies the existence of an intelligible world where the determining ground of causality is freedom. In the intelligible domain, the principles of pure reason possess objective reality. Thus, in the first Critique, Kant justifies the existence of (i) an intelligible world, (ii) freedom as the ground of causality and (iii) the ought as a reason for practical action. Secondly, in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant demonstrates that freedom carries one to an intelligible world where the good will resides. The good will rests upon freedom and brings forth human autonomy. And it is the good will from which the categorical imperative and morality in general emanate. Thirdly, it is explicated in the second Critique that freedom is the keystone (Schlußstein) of practical reason. Here, the moral law (= "a fact of reason") is instrumental in deducing transcendental freedom itself. This means that the reality of transcendental freedom manifests itself through the moral law. The moral law exists and is effective; therefore, there is transcendental freedom behind it. Thus, the structure of transcendental deduction of practical reason consists of the successive justification of (i) the intelligible world, (ii) freedom, (iii) the good will, (iv) duty (categorical imperative), (v) the moral law as a "fact of reason". Consequently, the practical deduction is possible only through a synthetic union between the Copernican Revolution,transcendental idealism and criticism.


There is disclosed herein an economical method and system for transmitting color video information over relatively low bandwidth transmission facilities. Original color material such as color motion pictures, stills, or slides of data, news events, or the like, or live pickup of such events, is converted to field sequential video information through the use of passive field sequential pickup and sending equipment. As an example, images from a color motion picture film are picked up by a passive field sequential color camera. The camera employs color splitting optics which separate each film frame into color primary images which are directed to a single video pickup tube. The camera provides sequential color output signals representing each frame, each frame being represented by a sequence of blue, red, and green signals. These field sequential signals, although representing discrete colors from the original film, may be handled as black and white signals which are transmitted over a conventional low bandwidth transmission facility, such as a facsimile, telephone or teletype transmission channel. The transmitted signals are received at one or more receiving locations in a region, continent or the world. These signals are then recorded on film, preferably black and white for motion pictures and color for stills, by recording equipment, such as kinescope recording apparatus, or may be recorded on video tape for subsequent film recording. The resulting film is processed; and for color motion picture rendition may be employed in a projection and conversion system wherein the sequential pictorial information from the film is picked up and then converted to conventional color television standards for transmission to color television receivers and like display equipment. Several modifications are disclosed particularly for record and playback equipment and methods.


Berlin : As I learnt from my time at the conference, that as a city with 175 museums, it has more museums than rainy days, 44% of Berlin consist of parks, rivers, lakes and waterways, the Berlin television tower (368 m) is the tallest building in Germany, and with 1700 bridges it beats Venice, which has just over 400. This was the backdrop for the 17th International Symposium on Silicon Chemistry (ISOS) held jointly with the 7th European Silicon Days. With over 500 attendees, 9 plenary lectures, 48 invited lectures, 76 short lectures, and 252 posters, it was a tremendous success. Congratulations go to the organizers (Matthias Driess and Martin Oestreich from the Technische niversit t Berlin and Richard Weidner from Wacker Chemie AG) and of course to the many helpers in orange T-shirts (Figure 1) for putting together such a stimulating and lively conference. Speakers represented countries from all over the world; from Hungary to Korea, from Australia to France, from USA to Mexico, from Japan to Israel, from Russia to Spain, from Germany to Taiwan, ...the list goes on. The nine plenary lectures showcased the diverse range of fields of research concerning silicon chemistry. From its use in total synthesis through silicon-based cross-coupling reactions (Scott Denmark, University of Illinois, USA), its chirality and symmetry in SiO4 materials (David Avnir, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), electronic structures of low-valent silicon compounds (Gernot Frenking, Philipps-Universit t Marburg, Germany), low-coordinate organosilicon compounds (Akira Sekiguchi, University of Tsukuba, Japan), base metal catalyzed alkene hydrosilylation (Paul Chirik, Princeton University, USA), its use in the design of electronic and photochemical functions (Shigehiro Yamaguchi, Nagoya University, Japan), two-dimensional silica (Hans-Joachim Freund, Max-Planck Fritz-Haber Institute, Germany), silicon(II) hydrides (Antoine Baceiredo, University of Toulouse, France), and polymers based on silicon and metals (Ian Manners, University of Bristol, UK). Figure 1. The organizing team (Photo: Andrea Hollman).


From the current situation of the public toilet sign, analyzes and summarizes the future trend of development of China's the public toilet sign .In order to design more in line public toilet sign with the characteristics of the new era, from form, color, volume three Parts to in-depth discuss on the characteristic of the public toilet sign. To handle the relations between rich and unity of the public toilet sign, seeking the meeting point between them, from the perfect of functional significance, the same of Visual significance, Material sense of complementarity, Cultural Significance of the upgrade four areas to carry out the application of the Public Toilet sign.


This paper presents an artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) for Education Timetabling Problem (ETP). It is aimed at developing a good-quality solution for the problem. The initial population of solutions was generated using Saturation Degree (SD) and Backtracking Algorithm (BA) to ensure the feasibility of the solutions. At the improvement stage in the solution method, ABC uses neighbourhood structures iteratively within the employed and onlooker bee operators, in order to rigorously navigate the UTP search space. The technique was evaluated using curriculum-based course timetabling (CB-CTT) and Uncapacitated Examination Timetabling Problem (UETP) problem instances. The experimental results on UETP showed that the technique is comparable with other state-of-the-art techniques and provides encouraging results on CB-CTT.


When we examine the Turkish history; Pechenegs who were one of the Turkish clans, could not establish a state structure, yet they at least became effective in the north of the Black Sea for a few centuries. Initially they struggled very hard with the Slavic-Russian and Byzantine Empire, and notably prevented them from arriving to the north of the Black Sea's coasts for more than a century. The primary objective of this study is to summarize the history and the origin of Pechenegs, who unfortunately got a severe blow from their cognates, Cumans-Kipczaks.


INTRODUCTION Citizenship has traditionally provided the basis for voter eligibility in national elections in countries throughout the world. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a fundamental human rights treaty, establishes the right to vote as a matter of international human rights law. Unlike the other rights articulated in that treaty, the right to vote is specifically conveyed only to citizens. For a citizen living outside of his homeland, however, the right to vote under international human rights law remains ambiguous. The potential right to vote for non-resident citizens raises a further normative question of whether the extension of such a right is consistent with theoretical positions regarding the formation of political communities. Non-resident citizen voting rights provide an opportunity to examine the relationship that people who live outside their country of citizenship have with their homeland. Furthermore, it raises the question of how this relationship does and should affect laws regarding enfranchisement of non-resident citizens. And finally, non-resident citizen voting is significant because it provides a window for critically analyzing the traditional connection of voting rights to citizenship and considering whether this connection is consonant with general theories regarding the makeup of political communities. This paper contends that the right to vote for non-resident citizens should fall within the scope of international human rights law. Although international human rights law has not yet addressed this issue, this paper's position finds support for its argument in the language of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the comments issued by the Human Rights Committee concerning the right to vote. The paper does not argue that all non-resident citizens should be given an indiscriminate right to vote under international human rights law. Rather, the right to vote for non-resident citizens should depend on the type of election and the general reason for the non-resident citizen population's absence from the country. This conclusion comports with many of the theoretical arguments concerning voting rights and closely resembles a framework already established in an international human rights law decision opining on a similar issue. Recent elections in East Timor highlight the importance of the type of election and reason for citizens' absence and demonstrate how changes in these two features affect the way in which the right to vote should be viewed. The paper will begin in Part I with a discussion of the relevant international human rights law and the applicability of this law to non-resident citizens voting rights. Part II will then describe the theoretical arguments addressing and affecting the question of non-resident citizen voting rights.1 Part III will examine the issue of non-resident citizen voting using the recent elections in East Timor as a case study for considering this issue. I. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW A. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is the primary codification of political rights in the area of international human rights law.2 This treaty, which entered into force on March 23, 1976, has been ratified by 167 nations.3 Article 25 of the ICCPR instantiates the right to vote as a principle of international human rights law, stating in relevant part that: Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: . . . (b) to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.4 The distinctions in article 2, which article 25 refers to, include "race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. …


This case study wanted to look at how the Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Osaka City called City Native English Teachers (CNETS) perceive the English program that they were hired in, what they think are the difficulties and strengths of the program. The participants of this case study are the CNETs/ALTs working in Osaka, and a survey was done along with interviews for its methodology. Results validated the dilemma of teaching English in Japan such as lack of Communicative Language Teaching activities and more on traditional teacher-centered, grammar-translation method type of teaching. Other aspects such as student personalities, quality of textbooks, kind of teachers (JTE and ALT), access to teaching materials and other issues were tackled as difficulties/weaknesses of the English program in Osaka from the perspectives of the CNETS. Suggestions were also given after the various weaknesses were presented.


Placements and internships are increasingly seen as important components of engineering degree programmes, but they do not often address explicitly the issues of leadershi p and globalization that are important to the modern graduate. We describe here a novel scheme that integrates placements over two years with specialized modules that operates throughout an engineering faculty, and which uses heavy involvement of experienced industrialists and academics. We comment on the successes of the scheme and the areas for improvement.


Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) have been used to characterize the surface structure and electronic properties of Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 and Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10 single crystals. Atomic resolution STM images show that 90%–95% of the surface has a near‐trigonal structure with a=b=0.24 nm and an a–b angle of 65°. The remaining 5%–10% of the surface consists of a new orthorhombic structure with a=b=0.40 nm. Spatially resolved STS measurements further demonstrate that regions with the 0.24 nm period structure are metallic, while areas with the 0.40 nm period structure are semiconducting.


Aim: A new potential clinical condition related to overstudying, namely study addiction (Atroszko et al., 2015) or studyholism (Loscalzo and Giannini, 2017), has been recently proposed in literature. This study has been aimed at analysing the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS) (Atroszko et al., 2015). Material and methods: We recruited a sample of 374 university students aged between 18 and 47 years old (Mage = 24.30 ± 4.85). The students' years of study and major subjects varied. By means of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA), we analysed the instrument's factorial structure. Moreover, we evaluated its internal reliability and divergent validity. Results: The Italian version of BStAS does not have fully satisfying psychometric properties. Two items (i.e. salience and tolerance) in this scale are problematic, as shown by both EFA and CFA. Conclusions: This study provides support for the usefulness of BStAS for future studies aimed at a further analysis of the features of this new potential clinical condition. However, more extensive research is needed to improve its psychometric properties in Italian students.


Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) of myocardial velocities is the method of choice to characterize mechanical dyssynchrony (MD) in the failing heart. TDI identified candidates for the RethinQ trial, a prospective, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, parallel-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) in pts with EF 2 at 6 months was the primary endpoint. The purpose of this study was to determine whether: degree of MD by TDI and opposing wall delay (OPWD) correlated with outcome; resynchronization by TDI parameters of MD was achieved by CRT; and if other TDI parameters of MD were predictive of outcome. Methods: A retrospective analysis of prospectively acquired echo data. Pts underwent an echo exam at baseline and 6 months which included color TDI enabling determination of the OPWD ≥65 ms required for enrollment into the trial. Other recognized parameters of MD such as the pre-ejection period (PEP) and 12 segment standard deviation of time-to-peak myocardial velocity were collected but not part of the selection criteria used to randomize pts to CRT. For the purpose of this analysis responders (R) were defined by improved MVO 2 and reduction in LVESV> 15%. All echo data was adjudicated by a Core Lab. Results: Degree of dyssynchrony pre implant (OPWD > 65, > 80, > 100ms) did not impact response to CRT. Both R and Non responders (NR) exhibited a decrease in OPWD at 6 months though R had a greater median change than NR -33(−29+42) ms vs 0(−3+45) ms, p=0.01. When pts exhibited OPWD ≥65ms, 12 segment standard deviation ≥34ms and PEP > 100ms there was a trend toward being able to identify R to CRT pre implant. 18/65 (28%) pts receiving CRT and meeting all 3 MD criteria were categorized as R vs. 6/47 (13%) not receiving CRT, p=0.052. Conclusions: Analysis of the echo TDI data revealed that degree of MD did not impact outcome, improvement of dyssynchrony was achieved with CRT and a combination of OPWD≥65ms, 12 segment standard deviation ≥34ms and pre ejection period > 100ms showed promise in predicting improvement in pts with narrow QRS, low EF and MD.


An otherwise healthy 54-year-old Caucasian man presented to our department in winter 2004 with a 3-month history of itchy skin lesion on his right shoulder. Physical examination showed an irregular and slightly hyperpigmented 7×5 cm plaque with central whitish areas, hypotrichosis and prominent induration (Fig. 1a, b). Histopathological examination revealed thickened collagen bundles in the upper and middle dermis, mild perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate and loss of skin appendages (Fig. 1c). Diagnosis of solitary plaque-type morphea was established, and treatment with high-potency topical corticosteroids was prescribed with marked improvement of the pruritus. The patient reported that the lesion had remained unmodified for 10 years without treatment, but in recent months it had become itchy and more infiltrated. Topical corticosteroids were prescribed without improvement; therefore oral corticosteroids in decreasing doses plus oral methotrexate, 15 mg weekly, were initiated. After a few months, a rough surface was detected in the middle of the lesion, accompanied by feelings of tightness according to the patient. There was no history of trauma, previous injection or infiltration around the lesion. An 18-MHz ultrasound image revealed an increased thickness of dermis compared with the contralateral side (0.73 vs. 0.42 cm, respectively) and multiple hyperechoic foci with distal acoustic shadowing, which suggested the presence of calcinosis in the dermis (Fig. 1d). Skin biopsy from the affected area revealed broad sclerotic collagen bundles in the dermis and calcium deposition at the center of the specimen (Fig. 1e). Multiple soft Solitary Plaque-type Morphea with Dystrophic Calcinosis Cutis


Scientists frequently communicate the results of their work in research reports. When writing scientific articles, authors must follow instructions and requirements of standard article format. A scientific paper should have in proper order, a Title, Abstract, Introduction, Material and Methods Results, Discussion, Conclusion and Literature. A title should be the fewest possible words that accurately describe the content of the paper. It should attract researchers' attention in order to be included in their investigation. An abstract is a short summary of the article. It concisely summarizes results and conclusion so that essential details of the paper can be understood in 100 - 250 words. The most commonly used are structured abstracts. Key words are provided below the abstract and describe the medical concepts characteristic for the whole article. Assign at least one and an average of 5 to 10 key words. Indexing in biomedicine means using the Thesaurus of the American National Library of Medicine: Medical Subject Headings. It provides easy and fast access to precise information using key words assigned to each document. Reference citation is obligatory and integral part of scientific articles. It provides communication among the authors and binds scientific papers as well as whole scientific knowledge in certain fields.


In this ethnographic analysis of the cultural lives of children who are "sleeping rough" in Port-au-Prince, Kovats-Bernat expands the traditional bounds of anthropological thought, which have only recently permitted a scholarly treatment of "the child" as a valuable informant, relevant witness, and active agent of social change. Refuting the commonplace notion that street children are unsocialized, Hobbesian mongrels, the author finds these children adopt strategies to carve a social and cultural space for themselves on the contested streets of Port-au-Prince, individually and collectively playing a surprisingly vital role in Haiti's civic life as they shape their own complex political, economic, and cultural identities. Kovats-Bernat conducted his fieldwork from 1994 to 2004 - the violent decade of Haiti's transition from a dictatorship to a democracy. Witnessing firsthand the effects of political and civil violence and poverty on the cultural lives of the Haitian people as well as the 2004 uprising of rebel soldiers against the government, he saw the Haitian president ousted and yet another violent transfer of political power in Haiti. The book also draws on the author's experience living on the streets with scores of street children, as well as their encounters with paramilitary agents, national policemen, former Haitian army soldiers, aid and development workers, United Nations and U.S. officials, the deposed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, death squad members, and Vodou bush priests. This comprehensive, accessible account of the social and cultural worlds inhabited by dispossessed children in Haiti is recommended for anthropologists, sociologists, and scholars of Latin American, Haitian, and Caribbean studies.


Background: We recently adapted the published Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the management of children with an altered level of consciousness (ALOC) to the Alexandria University Children's Hospital (AUCH) context. It is hy-pothesized that adapting clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to the local healthcare situation, rather than developing them, will increase their acceptance without putting a large strain on the resources. Aim: To present the adaptation pathway that was used to create the first local CPG in AUCH for the management of children with ALOC. Methods: For CPG adaption, we utilized the 'Adapted ADAPTE' approach. We went over the entire process in depth, including the setup, adaptation, and finalization phases. Results: Eight major recommendations were adopted by the panel from one source (RCPCH) guideline. The recommendations included: (i) service organiza-tion and training, (ii) recognition of the health problem and referral, (iii) diagnostic approach (iv) providing support (v) management of ALOC, and (vi) indication to PICU admission (vii) recommended medications (viii)monitoring and follow up. Conclusions: The finalized CPG provides evi-dence-based guidelines to healthcare providers for the management of children with ALOC in AUCH. The initiative also established the efficacy of the 'Adapted ADAPTE,' as well as the im-portance of clinical and methodology expert panel collaboration for local CPG adaptation. Abbreviations: AGREE : Appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation. ALOC: Altered level of consciousness. CNS : Central nervous system. CPG : Clinical practice guideline. CPGI: Clinical practice guideline implementation. CSF: Cerebrospinal fluid. GRADE: Grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation. LP: Lumbar puncture. RCPCH: Royal College of Pediatric and child health.


Ireland and the USA have historically had a significant yet complex relationship. From 1948 to 1951 as Minister for External Affairs, Seán MacBride was heavily involved in negotiations with President Harry Truman's government. The combination of Irish neutrality during the Second World War, the escalating Cold War, and the inter-party government's fixation on the partition issue would greatly affect the relationship between Ireland and the USA during his time in government. His attempts to make Irish Marshall Plan cooperation as well as Irish NATO membership conditional to the ending of partition were unsuccessful. MacBride publicly stated that the USA would be willing to mediate in respect to partition. Did this mistake show an incomplete understanding of both the Irish–American relationship in the recent past and current power politics? Was he really unable to recognise that the American political climate was the most important issue, that the Cold War was not the best time to try such an approach, or were other factors at work? It seems likely that the inter-party government knew enlisting American help would not work; rather, it was done to please home constituents rather than to actually solve the partition problem. There have been a number of analyses of Ireland's relationship with the USA during this period. Brief attention has been paid to Ireland's involvement in both the Marshall Plan and NATO, but mostly in the context of wider studies, with the exception of Bernadette Whelan's Ireland and the Marshall Plan and Ian McCabe's A Diplomatic History of Ireland 1948–1949. Recent writings mentioning MacBride's attempts to link partition to NATO and the Marshall Plan agree that it had a negative effect on Irish–American relations. Works concerning the dimension and character of the partition issue and its effects on Irish politics include John Bowman's De Valera and the Ulster Question and Clare O'Halloran's Partition and the Limits of Irish Nationalism. This essay differs from the studies above as it examines in greater detail why MacBride decided to follow the strategy he did, and what the attempt to use the 'sore thumb' approach reveals about the Irish–American relationship and the myths about that relationship.


One might be tempted to grant to Sagoff the homely adage that values come from the heart, not the head; and, moreover, be tempted to grant to him the naive simplification that science is a value-free activity of the head. Sagoff, then, would have no work to do to convince one that 'ecological theory can neither explain which aspects of the natural world we should count as "environmental" nor tell us why we should care about them . . . ' (Sagoff, 2013). However, Sagoff's argument isn't just new lipstick on the time-worn 'fact/ value dichotomy' pig. That ecology has 'failed' to guide a re-conceptualization of 'the environment'—failed to deliver to the US EPA the 'Holy Grail' of 'regulatory endpoints', and fails to inspire the environmentalist's sentiments—is traced by Sagoff to a problem with the science itself: the vocabulary in which the ecological theorist conducts her business is meaningless. No one—not environmentalists, not policy makers, not scientists themselves—understands it. This is quite a strong claim. And one might consider taking it seriously if what Sagoff seems to mean by 'meaningless' didn't so plainly apply to his own alternative to ecological theory. What does environmental protection protect? According to Sagoff, today's environmentalists are facing a crisis. The kind of concerns that defined their raison d'être—exemplified by flaming rivers and smog-choked city air—apparently is a thing of the past; in our post-public-health-emergency world, the activist needs to supplement her conception of 'the environment'. Sagoff sees this task as beginning with a clear definition of what it is the environmentalist means to be protecting. But are there really no more public-health challenges for the environmentalist? If the river in Cleveland no longer catches fire, are worries about the effects of fracking or groundwater depletion negligible? Are Gulf of Mexico oil spills only 'mopping-up operations'? And even if it's the case—within the cozy boundaries of the USA—that the fly-fishing is great, is it of no concern to the environmentalist that Beijing's air is often poisonous, that deforestation may again be on the rise in Brazil, that global fish stocks are plummeting? (And this is saying nothing of the various predicted manifestations of 'climate change'. The vast sweep of this latter concept may be daunting, as Sagoff fears; but its effects will be felt by real people in the real places they 'visit' or live in.) If it's a lack of back-yard troubles that motivates Sagoff's environmental ennui, then he should take a look over his fence.


The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional module focusing on the use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) with the primary objective of increasing the level of interest and engagement in science among younger students. The ARCS-V Model was combined with project-based learning to have students explore and master STEM concepts required to construct a remotely-operated quadcopter by having students produce a different operational product each week to demonstrate their understanding of targeted standards and objectives.


The cross sections and asymmetry parameters of the two $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{*}^{2}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{+}$ shakeup satellites on $\mathrm{C} 1s$ in the photoelectron spectrum of CO are found to differ significantly in the threshold region. The first satellite (due to triplet $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{*}$ coupling) shows intensity enhancement near threshold whereas the second satellite (singlet $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{*}$ coupling) decreases in intensity as expected for the adiabatic limit. Moreover, the data indicate that a shape resonance in the first-satellite channel is responsible for the observed effect rather than a conjugate shakeup process.


Objective
To investigate the role of special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1 (SATB1) in neoadjuvant radiotherapy of rectal cancer.

Methods
SATB1 expression was immunohistochemically determined in primary cancer, normal mucosa, biopsy and lymph node metastasis from 142 rectal cancer patients who underwent preoperative radiotherapy (RT), 68 with and 74 without RT before surgery. The expression of SATB1 in rectal cancer tissues (n=142) and normal mucosa tissues (n=107), preoperative biopsy cancer tissues (n=84), and metastatic lymph nodes (n=43) were detected by tissue microarray. To investigate the effect of SATB1 expression on the prognosis of patients with rectal cancer. The relationship between SATB1 expression and multiple radiotherapy-related factors was analyzed by bioinformatics methods.

Results
SATB1 increased from normal mucosa to primary cancer (χ2=5.396, P=0.032), whereas it decreased from primary cancer to lymph node metastasis (χ2=6.405, P=0.022) in non-RT patients. Strong SATB1 was independently related to worse overall survival (HR, 0.516; P=0.039; 95% CI: 0.274~0.969) and disease-free survival (HR, 0.558; P=0.025; 95% CI: 0.335~0.930) in RT but not non-RT patients. Radiation can decrease SATB1 expression of rectal cancer tissues. SATB1 was negatively related to ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and pRb2/p130 (χ2=5.427, P=0.032 and χ2=4.610, P=0.047), and positively to Ki-67 and TEM1 expression (χ2=4.339, P=0.037 and χ2=7.376, P=0.014) in patients underwent surgery after preoperative RT, which were verified in bioinformatics analysis.

Conclusions
Radiation can decrease SATB1 expression, and SATB1 may confer survival benefit for rectal cancer patients with preoperative RT by involving in radiation-responsive signaling pathways.

Key words:
Rectal neoplasms; SATB1; Preoperative radiotherapy; Prognosis; Bioinformatics


The fundamental character of the Mg-Al mixed oxide (Mg n (Al)O), derived from the Mg-Al hydrotalcite (Mg n Al-CO 3 -HT), where n corresponds to the Mg/Al molar ratio (n: 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4), was studied by using the adsorption of phenol as a probe acid molecule. The hydrotalcite precursors were prepared by the coprecipitation method. Their derived mixed oxides were obtained by thermal treatment at 450°C in a flow of air. The resulting solids were characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis   (TG-DTA), nitrogen physisorption (BET) and phenol chemisorption. The phenol adsorption followed by UV-Visible spectrophotometry shows that the basicity increases with the Mg/Al molar ratio, such that maximum quantity of phenol adsorbed (Q ads = 0.54 mmol/g cat ) was obtained with the mixed oxide derived from the Mg-Al hydrotalcite of Mg/Al molar ratio equal to 3.5.


Submarine cables have complicated structures and high production process requirements. In order to make sure the submarine cables to operate safely and reliably, this paper takes into account how the different laying conditions of submarine cables affect the maximum allowable ampacity. A 110kV YJQ-1×500 XLPE submarine cable is taken as the research object, based on the finite element method, the electromagnetic-thermal coupling models of the submarine cable laying in underwater soil, seawater and pipeline is established respectively in Comsol Multiphysics to study their thermal field and ampacities. The results indicate that the laying conditions would affect the cables' heat dissipation, submarine cable lays in seawater has the highest ampacity and lays in the pipeline in landing section of the cable has the lowest ampacity. Moreover, the variation of temperature of seawater would also influence the ampacity of the submarine cable.


The construction of modern university system with Chinese characteristics should comply with both common law compliance of higher education,but also the reality conditions of China.In theory,how to improve the internal and external governance structure of university,reconstruct the relationship between university,government and society,realizing the academic autonomy and academic freedom,and improve the scientific management system is the macroscopic path construction of modern university system with Chinese characteristics;But in practice,how to improve the internal governance structure of university,promote the university statutes construction,realize the optimization of external governance structure,including the university administration,government decentralization,promote the evaluation steering mechanism innovation and the university board system reform and improvement still remains a great challenge.


Objective To compare the efficacy of two therapies on retreated smear positive tuberculosis(TB) patients and to explore current treatment protocol.Methods A total number of 188 retreated smear positive TB cases were divided into standard and non-standard group,standard group treated with medicine of isoniazid,rifampicin,ethambutol,pyrazinamide and streptomycin while nonstandard group with isoniazid aminosalicylate,rifapentine,ethambutol,pyrazinamide and streptomycin;sputum negative conversion rate,side effects and treatment efficacy were compared with case-control-study method.Results By the end of February,May and August,the sputum negative conversion rates of non-standard group were 87.6%,88.7% and 92.8%,compared with standard group of 70.3%,76.9% and 78.0% respectively;the gastrointestinal reaction and hepatic impairment rates of non-standard group were 42.3% and 7.2% compared with standard group of 67.0% and 17.6% respectively;the excellent and total effective rates of non-standard group were 85.6% and 91.2%,compared with standard group of 68.1% and 79.1% respectively.Conclusion Method with isoniazid aminosalicylate and rifapentine for treating retreated smear positive tuberculosis is more preferable than current standard treatment protocol.


By the progress of technology, following to advancements on directed energy systems and magnetic resonance, over an introductory research on potentials of application of charged particle beam on the brain of the humans which can lead to a painless consecutive death, we shall investigate for the possibility of prevention of the extreme pain that a volunteer patient may highly suffer of, before the death as a state for relieving the pain itself. Exposure of charged particle beam on the brain of the humans, potentially, leads to a painless death. The basal ganglia, S1 and BA3, S2, BA46, BA10, BA9, BA5, the pretectal area, the hippocampus (and the other parts of the limbic system), and the thalamus are the most important locations in the human's brain, and targeting them destroys the home of our personality and the control/attention center of the brain, over NDE (near-death experience) it leads to finishing the life process of a patient who is suffering intolerable pain, but the patient won't sense the pain ever. In conclusion, distinct parts of the cerebrum and the thalamus are active locations of self-personality and attention. In elder patients of extreme pain who suffer of untreatable illnesses, it may get considered voluntary as a final decision by the victim and the victim's relatives. Thus, this experiment has several potentials for application; more research must be conducted with regard to in-depth understanding of these neural networks.


The globular cluster ! Centauri contains the largest known population of very hot horizontal branch (HB) stars. We have used the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain a far-UV/optical color-magnitude diagram of three elds in ! Cen. We nd that over 30% of the HB objects are \extreme" HB or hot post-HB stars. The hot HB stars are not concentrated toward the cluster center, which argues against a dynamical origin for them. A wide gap in the color distribution of the hot HB stars appears to correspond to gaps found earlier in several other clusters. This suggests a common mechanism, probably related to giant branch mass loss. The diagram contains a signiicant population of hot sub-HB stars, which we 2 interpret as the \blue-hook" objects predicted by D'Cruz et al. (1996a). These are produced by late He-ashes in stars which have undergone unusually large giant branch mass loss. ! Cen has a well-known spread of metal abundance, and our observations are consistent with a giant branch mass loss eeciency which increases with metallicity.


The landmark U.S. district court decision Martin Luther King, Jr., Elementary School Children v. Ann Arbor School District Board in July 1979 established the importance of teachers' attitudes toward language. Judge Charles Joiner upheld the claim of eleven black parents that the school system failed to take "their children's spoken dialect into account and it failed to teach them to read Standard English" (Kossack 1980, p. 617). The judge further stated that the language barrier is not black English itself, but rather teacher attitudes, which cause black English speakers to feel inferior (Kossack 1980). With the desegregation of many large school systems and the increased mobility within society, more and more teachers will be instructing children whose linguistic heritages may differ from their own. In addition, as the Spanish-speaking population continues to grow, more educational settings are becoming bilingual/bicultural. In light of these current education trends, teachers' attitudes toward language have become a timely and important issue. The purposes of this article are to describe the Ann Arbor decision, to review current


IF it were not classical, one would refrain from quoting before a learned society the opinion that "definitions are of all things the most damnable." In profitable discussion, however, it was a salutary rule of Pascal to insist, as well upon the definitions of terms employed as the proofs of propositions propounded. In this present particular, indeed, we have a signal exa.nple of the stimulating influence which our masters of science, furnished with their exact facts, have been able to exert upon the practical application of conservative principles of law. Conceptions of human diseases have been introduced into the realuis of knowledge which have modernized considerably the dicta of forensic pathology; the incursion of the microbe has enforced legal recognition by both judge and jury. In the loose usage of the term" accident," considerable confusion arises from a fundamental ambiguity of meaning. Reference may be intended either to the morbid effects upon the body of the person injured or to the mechanical cause of the operative injury. Thus, a decision by the Court of Appeal has affirmed that one tramway" accident" might include as many as forty" accidents" (Smith Staffordshire Tramways Co. v. Sickness and Accident Assurance Co., 1891). The pathological applications of the term alone are here dealt with. No notice is taken of "inevitable" and other accidents inquired into by the Admiralty Division or reported to the Board of Trade. Nor will accident-" any unforeseen and undesigned event productive of disadvantage "-as a ground for equitable relief be considered. From the standpoint of legal medicine, there are three sets of


This article discusses the pedagogical potential of a series of blog posts called "Feminist IR 101," which I wrote and posted on Duck of Minerva ([duckofminerva.blogspot.com][1]) over the course of 2010 and 2011. As our students increasingly rely on the internet as a source of not only news but knowledge and opinions, this group of posts looks to reach our student audience (and perhaps even others in the discipline) differently than textbooks or other traditional materials. They were meant to be an introduction to feminist IR in the true sense of the word–what feminist IR is, the vocabulary it uses, how it is useful in analysis, and why it is meaningful to scholars and students of gender and global politics. Their goal is to account for both what a feminist perspective contributes to the study of global politics and why I chose to do my research from that perspective. This short article looks specifically at both the "Feminist IR 101" project and its potential classroom uses, as well as the pedagogical value of blogging feminist IR more generally.

 [1]: http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com


Abstract : Nearly all information in tactical operations systems is input manually. Two problems that arise when manually inputting data are (a) the introduction of errors in translating information into computer format and (b) the introduction of a bottleneck in total system response time. Therefore, alternative methods of inputting data for accuracy and speed should be evaluated. Four methods were examined for speed and accuracy in inputting tactical messages concerning enemy activity into an Army computer format. The methods were (a) typing--the user types the appropriate codes into a message format; (b) typing with an error corrector--the computer automatically attempts to correct common spelling and/or typing errors; (c) menus--the user indicates which of the legal entries is desired from a list; and (d) typing with autocompletion and an English option--the user must type only sufficient characters to uniquely identify the item, using either the appropriate code or its English definition. The use of menus was the most accurate inputting method. For users of limited experience (1 day of inputting), there were no differences in speed among the inputting methods.


Based on the perspective of interest group theory,this paper offered an interpretation of political economy to the financial repression issue in China,which insists that the institutional arrangements of China's financial repression was born to the requirements of giving financial subsidies to the groups whose interests were infringed in the reform.Under the circumstances of continual fiscal capacity decline,the central government should strengthen financial system control with rent margin and currency gains as main channels to provide financial subsidies to state-owned enterprises and to government finance in order to maintain social stability during the transition period and to reduce reform cost.But in recent years,with the decline of the proportion of residential income in national income distribution,a series of problems caused by financial repression,will bring about enormous social costs and efficiency loss if China continues to maintain the policy of financial repression.


The current spread of the Internet across an ever-increasing number of devices, including mobile and IoT devices, has created an enormous flow of data. [...]


In this paper, the problem of blind waveform identification of overlapped replicas is addressed. The proposed method departs from the unconditional maximum likelihood (UML) criterion and it makes use of the information regarding the signal subspace decomposition of the received signal. For the low-SNR regime, the pager shows that the UML criterion can be understood as a correlation matching approach in the transformed domain of the signd subspace. In addition , it is found that the initial set of unknowns is compressed into an smaller number of unknowns in this transformed domain. As a consequence, the solution space is reduced and the overall stability of the identification method is improved in front of the noise and possible ill-conditioned scenarios. compressed and the original ML approach becomes a simple least squares problem. Because of the subspace compressed approach, we are able to provide a waveform identification method with a more robust behavior in front of the noise impairment and possible ill-condiuoning. The structure of the paper is the following: Section 2 defines the signal model for the problem at hand and Section 3 presents the U M L estimation framework. The incorporation of the signal subspace decomposition and the proposed method are analyzed in Section 4. Next, Section 5 is devoted to the optimal model order selection of the signal subspace. Finally, the simulation results i u e shown in Section 6 and the conclusions are drawn in Section 7. 2. SIGNAL MODEL 1. INTRODUCTION The non-data aided (NDA) or Blind channel estimation problem has been of a great interest during the last decades. Indeed, the knowledge of the channel response is required at the receiver for an optimal information detection [I]. However, depending on whether or not the pulse shape is known, the concept of channel reponse may refer to the propagation channel itself or to the convolutive response of the pulse shape and the channel as a whole. This paper is focused on the latter case, and it refers to the overall response as the received wavefom. Since the advent of second-order blind channel estimation techniques , several methods have been proposed including subspace decomposition , iterative quadratic maximum likelihood, least-squares, or multivariate prediction schemes. An excellent revision on these topics may be found in [ 2 ] and the analysis of their asymptotic performance and limitations in [3] and [4]. However, with the recent rediscovery of ultra-wideband (W) …


Biography of Joan Crawford. Chapters: Raw Beginner, Flaming Youth, Career Girl, Fallen Woman, Sophisticated Lady, Star Reborn, Joan Alone. Also includes filmography, bibliography, notes to the text, illustration sources


DNA sequences consist of four types of nucleotides, and converting the DNA sequence into a numerical sequence is an important task of the study of DNA sequences. In this paper, we propose an improved inter-nucleotide distances method which combines with Euclidean distance to analyze phylogenetic relationship of the 64 vertebrate complete mitochondrial genomes and construct corresponding phylogenetic trees. The trees show that the mitochondrial genomes are separated into three major groups. One group corresponds to mammals, one group corresponds to fish, and the other one is Archosauria (including birds and retiles). Finally, our results are roughly consistent with the current known phylogenies of vertebrates.


Candlenut shell based carbon which was chemically activated using a solution of phosphoric acid and modified with nitric acid has been used to adsorb chromium ions (Cr(VI)). This study aims to examine the effect of phosphoric acid activation on the surface area of the candlenut shell carbon and the effect of nitric acid on the adsorption capacity of metal ions Cr (VI). The study was carried out by activating the candlenut carbon with 10% phosphoric acid for 24 hours then modified with 6 N nitric acid for 24 hours. The activated carbon that has been modified is then optimized with several parameters, namely time, pH and the number of adsorbents to maximize the performance of activated carbon. The surface area of candlenut based activated carbon was determined by methylene blue method and the adsorption capacity was measured using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the carbon surface area before and after activation increased from 1557.3 m2/g to 1669.5 m2/g, respectively, and the surface area increased dramatically after HNO3 modification to 2090,8 m2/g. The adsorption capacity to the metal ions (Cr(VI)) tends to follow the Langmuir isotherm model which is equal to 20.4 mg/g.


Contents: Introduction: perspectives on corporate social responsibility, David Crowther and Lez Rayman-Bacchus. Part I: Theorising Corporate Social Responsibility: Assessing trust in, and legitimacy of, the corporate, Lez Rayman-Bacchus Limited liability or limited responsibility?, David Crowther The power of networks: organising versus organisation, Branka Mraovic. Part II: Practising Corporate Social Responsibility: Social performance in government: choosing fiscal health over physical health?, John Mahon and Richard McGowan Corporate social responsibility: exploration inside experience and practice at the European level, Rute Abreu and Fatima David Corporate social reporting: genuine action or window dressing?, David Crowther The impact of socially responsible investment upon corporate social responsibility, Thomas Clarke and Marie de la Rama Bioengineering and corporate social responsibility, R. Seminur Topal and David Crowther. Part III: The Ethics of Corporate Social Responsibility: Social responsibility is free - how good capitalism can co-exist with corporate social responsibility, John Peters Management by love and kindness and the conquest implications, Roger Haw The future of corporate social responsibility, David Crowther and Lez Rayman-Bacchus Index.